Christmas tradition: ‘Messiah’ returns for 31st year in New Bern

The Craven Messiah Chorus performed for the 31st year on Monday at Centenary United Methodist Church.

Charlie Hall/Sun Journal

By Charlie Hall, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at 03:19 PM.

Christmas is flush with tradition, including George Friderich Handel’s “Messiah,” which debuted in the Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. Today, it is a standard for choral groups around the world each December. That says tradition.

In New Bern, the tradition dates 31 years and it continued with two performances Monday afternoon and evening at Centenary United Methodist Church.

It is a hot holiday ticket.

Frank and Mary Ellen Krohn, along with their daughter, Kathy, came from Morehead City for the first time, deciding to attend three weeks ago.

“We love ‘Messiah,’” said Frank, who used to sing in it as a bass when the family lived in Pinehurst. He is also a barbershop singer.

Marci Crawford of New Bern was also in the afternoon audience. She has been a French horn player for the Craven Community Band during her six years in New Bern.

“I have played for many ‘Messiahs,’” she said, of her days in Indianapolis. She can also boast that she has “played Peoria.”

Christmas is flush with tradition, including George Friderich Handel’s “Messiah,” which debuted in the Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. Today, it is a standard for choral groups around the world each December. That says tradition.

In New Bern, the tradition dates 31 years and it continued with two performances Monday afternoon and evening at Centenary United Methodist Church.

It is a hot holiday ticket.

Frank and Mary Ellen Krohn, along with their daughter, Kathy, came from Morehead City for the first time, deciding to attend three weeks ago.

“We love ‘Messiah,’” said Frank, who used to sing in it as a bass when the family lived in Pinehurst. He is also a barbershop singer.

Marci Crawford of New Bern was also in the afternoon audience. She has been a French horn player for the Craven Community Band during her six years in New Bern.

“I have played for many ‘Messiahs,’” she said, of her days in Indianapolis. She can also boast that she has “played Peoria.”

“I love the tradition of the music,” she said. “I have an appreciation of all the work that is put into it to have a great performance.”

For more than 100 singers, New Bern becomes a destination point each Monday night since early November, long into the evening under the guidance of co-directors Pat Rowlett and Bette Jo Oglesby, with accompanist Cindy Sutton.

The Open Rehearsal December afternoon performance was born out of early, overwhelming community interest.

Conductor James Ogle, a former assistant conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, makes an annual pilgrimage from Boise, Idaho. His first interaction with the more than 100 singers and 20-piece orchestra is the afternoon before the evening performance.

Rowlett recalled that from the first performance, hundreds of people had to be turned away because of space limitations. So, the afternoon rehearsal, in which Ogle sometimes makes minor changes, was also made available for public viewing.

Many people in the audience are repeat attendees, such as Bernie and Mary Franko of New Bern.

“We have come every year since 1980,” said Bernie. “We absolutely love it. We always come to this and the symphony.”

The Franko family moved here in 1980 from Fayetteville, where he was in the U.S. Air Force.

Bernie is another audience member who has first-hand experience with “Messiah,” having sung as a tenor during his days at St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania.

“It is a lot of work and it shows here,” he said. “We alternate attending the dress rehearsal and the performance each year. Sometimes they seem to be perfect in the rehearsal.”

Tradition includes the orchestra, of which 18 of 20 North Carolina Symphony members this year came from the Raleigh area.

Violinist Paul Gorski has played at all 31 concerts, while bass player Craig Brown has missed just one show in more than three decades.

Oglesby plays the harpsichord, which is her own, and tympani player Jonathan Wacker from East Carolina University, round out the orchestra.

The 110 chorus members this year came from around the region, with singers from as far away as Goldsboro, Swansboro and Wilmington.

Linda Staunch, who heads the local North Carolina Symphony series in New Bern, said she had missed just one of the local “Messiah” performances in 31 years.

“It is one of my favorite holiday events,” she said. “It is a wonderful tradition that the chorus leaders and the chorus gives to the community each year.”